Numbers 15:37-41

These tassels were a distinctive identification of God's people. God commanded this to be a constant reminder to them of who they were! Does clothing have an effect? Absolutely it has an effect on the heart! These tassels were reminders to them to keep God's commands rather than chasing after what their lustful eyes wanted.

If you want to connect that to something that is prominent today, these tassels were an early version of the "What would Jesus do?" cliché. It was worn with them everywhere they went. It was to remind them, "Keep the commandments!" "Keep the commandments!" "Keep the commandments!" "Keep the commandments!" Everywhere they turned, everywhere they shook, those tassels shook, reminding them that they were sons of God. Their God was God, and that they should be keeping the commandments. These tassels were symbols of righteousness. It was a symbol of the right kind of attire. You will notice in there that He mentions the word "whoring." The spirit of harlotry was in their clothing. That is why He commanded that this be done.

We no longer have to wear the tassels. God has given us His Spirit to be the reminder once we are taught, but this gift brings the issue of personal responsibility, self-control, and self-government much more firmly into the picture. Now, instead of tassels, it should be in your heart, in your mind. This is why the heart must have first priority. It must dominate what appears on the outside in terms of our clothing.

God makes you and me responsible. I do not know whether you are getting the picture, but I am going to make it very plain: Every day that we put clothing on, it should remind us that clothing is a symbol of covering shame, and that we are covered. Our shame of sin is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. That is what clothing represents. Now are you one of the redeemed, or are you not? What does your clothing show God that you understand about the value of our redemption?

Numbers 15:37-41

Now I do not know whether you ever thought of it before, but this is the command to wear phylacteries. And this is the thing that later on Jesus kind of derided, not because they were wearing them, but rather because they kept making them longer and longer and more and more prominent. They put these tassels on their clothing. Now they were, in doing it, following the command of God, which was the right thing to do. I want you to see though where that command was given. It was given right within the context of an example of the breaking of the Sabbath. And so the command to wear tassels, which were intended to remind people about all of the commandments of God, but most likely it was given to remind them specifically about the Sabbath commandment that had just been presumptuously broken by this person. And in the keeping of the Sabbath there would be then the remembrance of all of the commandments. I was tying it to a hook. The remembering of the Sabbath was tied to the hook, you see, you know the laws of memory, and the hook was the tassels. And the tassels then were to remind the people of the keeping of all of the commandments.

Numbers 15:37-40

I think all of us are aware of the tassels that the Hebrew people wore on their clothing. But again looking at the context here, what seems to be the primary motivation that God had in mind whenever He gave them this command? Remember that this was something that they wore right on their clothing. It was a part of their every day dress. It was something that they had to look at every time they put their clothes on, every time they took their clothing off, all the while they were on the street, all the while they were doing business. Everyone who was following this command had a tassel, which everybody could look at—to remind them of the commandments of God. But the context indicates that the primary motivation was because this man broke the Sabbath presumptuously!